IBM and Motorola G5's?

I just took a look at MOSR, and I saw a very interesting piece of info:
---------
Presently we are waiting for IBM's discussions of the new desktop
CPU at the forum later in the month to draw any new conclusions,
but it looks as if the G5 family might not be one lineage of chips from
one company -- Apple may be attempting to increase the competition
between IBM and Motorola by using both POWER4 and PPC
8500-based CPUs....
-----------

This sounds kinda crazy, but sounds really good. It is kinda like the AMD and Intel battle, but just over Mac cpu's, which could mean faster mac's in faster time if thier is a little compeition. Personally I would rather have the Power4 chip powering my Mac, but if Motorola comes out with a 64-bit G5 first, I don't think I can wait any longer, and I am going to take the plunge.

MOSR also says:
--------------
Don't count Motorola out of game just yet as far as future Mac
processors are concerned. Although Apple and IBM continue to work
on a solution that some have dubbed GPUL (Giga-Processor Ultra
Lite - although this is most certainly not the name anyone involved is
using; certain rumormongers just made it up, as they have numerous
other "codenames"), Motorola apparently has plans to supply Apple
with hundreds of thousands of PowerPC 8500-family processors
beginning in early 2003.
----------------
Early 2003? MWSF? I hope so! Maybe Motorola G5 in MWSF, and IBM G5 (or something else) in MWNY, but most likely MWSF 2004. I don't think Apple is going to release two very powerful chips in 1 year?

They're good for a laugh, and wishful thinking, but don't take anything they say too seriously. Someone once asked me how I would feel if MOSR and MacNN didn't exist anymore, and I told then I couldn't care less. And I really couldn't.

I wonder how much they like their ATI Radeon 8500 with ADC (there is no such creature, read their archive).

Mac OS Rumors is run by a guy whose only job is to cull rumors from other rumor sites (like this one) and present them in a single place. It is not really a rumor source - just a rumor summary.

There will be a line of Motorola MPC8500 (G5) processors. The only questions are: 1) when, and 2) will they appear in Macs. The answer to 1 is "when the fab in which they will be produced is finished," which will probably be sometime no sooner than Q2 of next year. The answer to 2 is "probably." If a Motorola G5 fulfilling all of Apple's requirements existed, there is no reason Apple wouldn't want to use it, even if they already had the IBM GPUL.

By this time next year, I think it is likely that Apple will be in the process of transitioning its entire product lines to these new CPUs. I think the G3 will be replaced by the G4 in the iBook next year. Whichever CPU the PowerBook gets will be dependent upon which of these two next-gen CPUs is the most energy-efficient.

There will be a line of Motorola MPC8500 (G5) processors. The only questions are: 1) when, and 2) will they appear in Macs.

Click to expand...

A1: They are shipping and have been for a while. A2: No, current 85xx chips are totally unsuitable for Macs. They lack things such as floating point units, which really does lower the ol Photoshop performance, doesn't it.

The chips aren't even high-clocking. Moto lists 1ghz as the Max, not good at all, certainly not much of a G5.

I do not see any reason why a G4 exactly as we know it except fabbed on 90nm or 130nm processes would not be entirely suitable for iBooks, iMacs and PBooks for some time. There is no need to reinvent the wheel if IBM is going to come in and do the high-end chips. Let Moto be slow, thats fine for some models.

Originally posted by DaveGee
If Jordan DIDN'T know what was going on in the CPU department he wouldn't have said what he did.

If Jordan DID know what was going on in the CPU department and the next big CPU *was* gonna come from MOT he wouldn't have said what he did.

If Jordan DID know what was going on in the CPU department and the next big CPU *was not* gonna come from MOT then yea what the heck... Take a jab it ain't gonna hurt none.

Click to expand...

You have hit the nail right on the head! Mot's high-speed PPCs are for routers and other dedicated applications. They don't have any other cakes in the oven.

More speculation: IBM's new chip is likely to show up in a low-end RS-6000, which they would position as a small-business database server. It'll give them something to compete with Sun in the low-end server area. (Nobody would seriously use a winblows machine as a database server.) As to whether the jeepul will be used in Macs, that's more speculative. While desktop macs wouldn't be viewed as competitive with a low-end RS-6000, a jeepul xserve might. So, it may be interesting after all that IBM is conducting a survey about whether DB/2 should be ported to mac os x server. My guess is that IBM wouldn't mind losing a few RS6000 sales to xserves, as long as their chip and their software are getting out there.

I don't think we'll get any answers on Oct. 7. But Mac Rumors is the place to keep an eye on!

alex_ant was talking about a G5 8500 specifically. had he said 85xx then that would include the -40 and -60 models. however the general assumption is that a desktop Macable model would be labeled 8500, and no such processor is shipping or has been officially announced.

I think that they will release the g5 in Jan. It will be called the g5 ( Big suprise ) and it will have speeds at about 1.2 GHz 1.4 GHz & 1.6 GHz. Then later in the year, maybe right b4 christmas, apple will release the GPUL mac with speeds at 1.5, 1.7, and 2.0 GHz. Total guesses, but this is what I am guessing.

In just ten more days we should know a lot more. My guess is that the IBM G5 (also called by the IBM code name GPUL) is very far along in development, and may be sampling already. I believe Motorola no longer has plans for an Apple G5.

First reason Apple will use Motorola PPC for low end user such as ibook, iMac, eMac, PowerMac, and xServe. Second reason Apple will use IBM power4 lite for high end user. Such as PowerMac, iMac, Powerbook, xServe and or PowerxServe. Also maybe (Who knows) that Apple will use Power4 (not Lite) for HIGH END Server for xServe.

If the Power4mini-me is half as hot as the Power4, then you don't wat to see it in laptops. or a tightly-packed, system like an iMac.
If they are the same price, then the Moto G5 could go in iMacs, eMacs and Powerbooks, while the IBM G5 could go in Powermacs and xServes.

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